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<< Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >> jstockdale   Re:South Downs Road development - 2007/08/07 09:34 Harry, thanks for directing us to the Technical Group minutes. I always find it extremely difficult to find these. There is a reference but no link from the LDC page on North Street. It sounds as if there's a lot in the July meeting. Could you start a new thread with a link to these minutes, as major matters are clearly coming up and those who took part in the vision process are now excluded. Let's hope Lindsay Frost has written to the Government asking if he can short circuit the strategic flood risk assessment process hoping to get the answer "no" - and that he receives it.   | | You must login if you wish to contribute to this forum. admin   Re:South Downs Road development - 2007/08/07 11:23 John, we're publishing the Technical Group minutes on the site nowadays - see Stop Press! on the front page :-)   | | You must login if you wish to contribute to this forum. jstockdale   Re:South Downs Road development - 2007/08/15 16:13 Either I'm hogging this website or I'm the only persion still reading it or I'm the only person still in Lewes in August or no one else has figured out how to log on to it and post. The latest wrinkle in this sorry tale is that Maureen Messer with some help from Tom Crossett has now written to the Government to ask for the application to be called in. (Lewes Matters have the documents and I believe they plan to put them up on the site.) This is because the Environment Agency endorsed the project by applying the old PPG 25 guidance on building on the flood plain and did not take into account the new guidance in PPS 25 which had been published at the time of the outline application and was therefore 'a material consideration'. The Council should have required that the emergency services should have dry access in the event of a flood and that habitable rooms should be at a minimum height of the Oct 2000 flood plus predicted sea level rise over the life of the buildings. It's important to give Maureen's initiative as much support and publicity as possible. It was clear that the Planning Committee were extremely uncomfortable rubber stamping what the officers claimed had to be done - a triumph of bureaucracy over commonsense. An effective challenge here will put down a marker that no further development should take place on the flood plain until new and stricter rules have been worked out and put in place. Meanwhile if these wretched flats get built, God help the poor wretches who have to live in them and insure them.   | | You must login if you wish to contribute to this forum. Harry   Re:South Downs Road development - 2007/08/16 16:53 John: Would it help if other people joined Maureen in writing or is one letter enough? If more, can we see a copy of the letter?   | | You must login if you wish to contribute to this forum. jstockdale   Re:South Downs Road development - 2007/08/18 10:10 The following advice is being offered to local residents bordering on the development by Lewes Flood Action. Anyone else with a concern about the precedent this sets should join in too. On 1 August Lewes’ Planning Committee gave final approval for the building of 125 flats and houses at South Downs Road, Malling Brooks. Are they barking? They must be! The site is on the floodplain. It flooded to a depth of 11ft in 2000. It’s protected by the new flood defences but according to Government projections on sea level rise, the defences will cease to be effective during the lifetime of the properties. If the Government’s current guidelines on building on the floodplain had been applied, this project would have been stopped. What a stink! The site is also where the Town dumped all its rubbish in the 70s, so that will all have to go to take up the last remaining space at Beddingham. Local residents have real concerns about the methane gas there. So, why did they approve it? The officers enthusiastically endorsed the scheme because the original outline approval was given under the old rules on building on the floodplain – and once given, the officers believed, the developer was entitled to build. But stricter new guidelines had already been published which is why Lewes Flood Action is asking the Government to ‘call in’ the application and review it. But more houses has to be good, doesn’t it? Yes, people need homes. But not one of this 125 unit development is ‘affordable’ despite the Council’s rule that 25% of any new development should be for people on the waiting list and for ‘key workers’ like teachers and nurses. What’s needed locally is 3 bed houses for families - not two bed flats for incomers that are beyond the price range of locals and uninsurable for flood risk at normal rates. Sounds like a complete cock up then? That’s right – a triumph of bureaucracy over commonsense. Lewes Flood Action have written to the Yvette Cooper MP, the Housing Minister asking her to give councils discretion to stop building in the floodplain until the lessons from the floods this summer have been learned. Unfortunately, our Planning Committee didn’t have the bottle to stand up to the officers and refuse or defer making a decision - to give the Minister time to reply. Is there anything we can do about this? Well yes there is. You too can ask the Government to call in the application. Write to Jonathan Shaw MP Minister for the South East DEFRA Nobel House 17 Smith Square London SW1P 3JR quoting the reference no (LW 07/0325) and ask him to call in the decision because the Environment Agency should have applied the new guidance on building on the flood plain (PPS 25) to the application and if they had done so they would have advised Lewes District Council to refuse permission.   | | You must login if you wish to contribute to this forum.

Boardwalk :: Forum List The Phoenix Quarter General Discussion

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